Messages

121

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: January 12, 2016, 10:41:40 AM »

N:

   It means Darwin doesn't think its jogging.. Is the Z axis mapped to the jogger when your jogging?
might be a bug i had'nt heard of before..  Do you have Z axis selected in axis 1 or axis 2 for jogging?
If so, the LED should be on..   Make sure no other signal is set to either its step or dir, I got bit
by that before...

   If all  else fails, do this, swap X and Z and try jogging. Does the X now sound noisy when you jog z?
Is the Z noisy when you jog X?

Art

122

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: January 12, 2016, 08:15:57 AM »

>>But would that explain not getting a green light when jogging in Darwin?

 Not quite sure what green light we're speaking of?

Art

123

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: January 12, 2016, 08:14:49 AM »

Hi Mark:

  No, sounds likely wouldnt help. It does sound like your losing steps or something,
but as your waveform is clean I'm at a loss as to why. Your at the point where Id
personally pull out one of my scopes and see what it says is going on.
   You know, something niggles at me, make sure all the Mach4 config items liek limit
switches and home switches are set to Active High, then see if any LED's are on in
Mach4's config , like limits and homes. They should all be off. Seems to me if a
homing switch is senses as active and motion occurs, it may be choppy.. Home switches
and limits should not be ON when an axis is moving really, other than to jog off
them..

   But thats the only thing that comes to mind that "may" have an effect on pulse
clarity..

Art

124

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: January 07, 2016, 08:33:14 AM »

Mark:

>>in your last message you said " In Darwins config, tell it the Limit Switches should cause an Estop"
>>Can you elaborate in how to do this.

  In Darwin's config, where you set the input signals up, you can check or uncheck "E Stop Trip" on any signal.
In the case of a limit switch, set it to "EStop Trip" , this is a signal that tells Darwin that if such a signal is tripped
and your trying to reset, it will turn off the E-Stop on that signal till you drive off it, and will ignore it during homing.

>>However , in mach4 If I use the same settings , the system seems to be behaving total differently, the motor sound is much sharper.
and ever the steps setting has to be different.

  It should sound smoother, as Darwin is a smoother motion device than the old printer port. Steps really should be the
same. Id try inverting the Step pulse, its possible your driver needs the pulses inverted, that happens fairly often.. and can
impact the step count and sound...

Art

125

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Backlash not applied during manual JOG?

« on: January 04, 2016, 09:24:57 AM »

For the record:

    Darwin was written prior to Mach4, but to the specs of M4 at that time which didn't call for it.. So backlash was not added
to Darwin. There is a school of thought, which was prevalent during my time in Mach3, that backlash
shouldn't be corrected and that backlash should be mechanically fixed or accepted, personally I tend
be be in that camp on my own machines anyway. Minimizing backlash with springs or anti-backlash nuts etc
is probably the best way to deal with the issue, but when applied to a core application, there is no end to
the misery it can cause to the logical application of motion rules in the engines. 
    Its like asking your cars software to help with a loose steering wheel, could be done, but probably
shouldn't be..it would affect other safety issues right down to the tires. Just my 2 cents, and I
thought Id explain why Darwin doesn't have backlash..

Art

126

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: January 03, 2016, 01:44:50 PM »

Greg:

 I'm really not sure whats going on there.. Opening M3 and M4 at the same time Ida thought would crash you pretty hard..

Short of hooking a scope on the output pins to see whats up Im not sure what you can check. Does the system require a charge pump to move?
Is it possible your just missing a charge pump signal?

Art


 

127

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: December 31, 2015, 08:03:56 AM »

Hi Mark:
"  >>.Estop condition
   ..signal 5 set to 0
    Then reset estopbutton
    ..Estop cleared
    at this point the enable is red and locked. "

   This one is strange, Darwin has no control over M4's enable button. Ill ask the M4 developers why that might occur,
Ive never experienced that one (or even heard of it..)

">>and also trips the limit, so you have to disable limits , then jog off each axis."

   This too shouldnt happen. If on a limit switch, Darwin should allow you to enable
and it will ignore the limits until you jog off them.. then turn them back on.. Ill check the code
to see what permissions are required..

>>>>> Can you tell me where to set the back off distance, same as Mach3.

  This is set in M4's homing setting, it doesnt however move off. You set an offset.. say 1", when it homes,
instead of zeroing, it will set -1", pressing goto Zero's would then move you off the switches to the "real"
home position, thats how the system was designed and the original spec of Mach4 for Homing when Darwin
 was written.

  In checking the Enable code, if any signal has "ETrip set", that is if any signal in Darwins Config
has the box checked telling it to go into Estop.. such as limit switches, when you press enable they
are turned off and you get a message..
"Warning::EStop signal inhibited for "Signal Name" till cleared"When you jog off youll get
"Note::EStop capability restored for signal "signal name".

   Now that Ive checked the code, I see no place for Darwin to tell M4 to not enable the
"Enable" button.

For the problem of jogging off limits...

 I suggest the following. Turn off your limit switches in Mach4. Tell it you
have none. In Darwins config, tell it the Limit Switches should cause an Estop. Leave
them enabled in Darwin with that setting. During homing, Darwin will ignore them,
and if you hit one after, it will trip an estop and the messaging will happen as above.

   Darwin doesnt need Mach4 to know about its limit switches, so since your sharing
limits and home, its probably best to just let M4 think you have none. It was my
understanding M4 didn't do anything with limits other than simply display the LED''s,
but that may have changed in some update. SO turn them off to see if it helps,
that will at least tell us if your jog off switches thing is a M4 or Darwin issue.

  Ill ask about the enable, perhaps they added a safety I wasnt aware of.

Thx
Art


  

128

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: December 30, 2015, 09:34:57 PM »

Greg:

 Did you try pulse width under the Diags/Darwin menu.. there is a place to set a pulse width, try adding 5 to it to see if perhaps
your drivers need longer pulses?

Art

129

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: December 30, 2015, 11:08:20 AM »

If the values change, Darwin is stepping. SO either the pins are set wrong, or the port. But if you have IO, the port must be fine.
Make sure also that no other output is set to the step pins...

Art

130

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: December 30, 2015, 08:37:25 AM »

Hi:

    First question here is "Do the DRO move when you Jog or try to move."?

  If DRO's count , then Darwin thinks it is sending out pulses, and Mach4 is getting the
updated positions. Since you have spindle on/off, the port is fine, if counting, Id
look to pin settings as Bob mentioned, it may be your happily pulsing your step
into your direction.. which will give you a warm feeling, but no motion.

  If no DRO's are counting, then have you set Darwin as the pulse engine? Any other
errors shown?

Thx
Art